SUNDAY CLOSING OF CERTAIN BUSINESS PLACES IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. MAY 25, 1906.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. CAMPBELL, of Kansas, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 16483.] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 16483) requiring certain places of business in the District of Columbia to be closed on Sunday, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. A bill identical in language to the one herewith reported passed the House during the Fifty-eighth Congress. The general purpose of the proposed legislation is to provide a day of rest during each week for the dealers in provisions and their employees by making it unlawful for places of business of this character to be kept open on Sunday. These dealers and employees are now deprived of the privilege of observing Sunday, because they are obliged to compete with other dealers who make a practice of keeping their places of business open on that day. The bill provides that from the 1st day of June until the 1st day of October in each year any meats sold prior to Sunday may be delivered at any time before 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. This exception is made so that persons who do not have refrigerators or a proper place to keep meats can purchase the same on Saturday, have the dealer keep it in his refrigerator over night, and deliver the following morning. Your committee is informed that this proposed legislation meets with the approval of something over 500 of the retail grocerymen in the District of Columbia. The following resolution shows that it also has the approval of the 130 members comprising the Retail Butchers and Meat Dealers' Protective Association: To the Senate and House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, D. C., February 6, 1904. In behalf of and representing the Retail Butchers and Meat Dealers' Protective Association, which has a membership of over 130 members who are engaged in business throughout the District of Columbia, we are instructed to urge most earnestly H R-59-1-Vol 3- -4 the passage by Congress of the bill H. R. 11819, providing for a Sunday-closing law for this District. The members of our association desire to observe Sunday as a day of rest and of freedom from the cares of business; and we believe that our many employees are also entitled to that day of rest, of which they and we will be deprived if we are compelled to keep open our places of business to compete with those dealers who do not respect that holy day. That this measure will receive the cordial approval of all law-abiding citizens we truly believe, and therefore we petition for its early passage by your honorable bodies. JOHN R. KELLY, President. This measure has the approval of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, as will be seen by the following communication on the subject: EXECUTIVE OFFICE, COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, DEAR SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to recommend favorable action upon H. R. 16483, of the present session, “Requiring certain places of business in the District of Columbia to be closed on Sunday," which was referred to them at your instance for their examination and report. The legislation proposed in this bill is substantially similar to that embodied in H. R. 11819, of the Fifty-eighth Congress, second session, having the same title, upon which the Commissioners made a favorable report, and which passed the House of Representatives. The bill if enacted will give protection on their rest day to the classes which seem to be especially in need of it. It does not seem to be necessary to argue the well-settled question that legislation for the protection of the common day of rest is constitutional and expedient. In view of the foregoing report the Commissioners recommend that no action be taken upon H. R. 16556, “Prohibiting labor on buildings, etc., in the District of Columbia on the Sabbath day," and H. R. 10510, "To further protect the first day of the week as a day of rest in the District of Columbia," which were also referred to them from your committee with request for their views. Very respectfully, Hon. J. W. BABCOCK, HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND, President Board of Commissioners District of Columbia. 59TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( REPORT 1st Session. 1 No. 4422. DAMAGES DUE TO ELIMINATION OF GRADE CROSSINGS ON LINE OF PHILADELPHIA, BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON RAILROAD COM PANY. MAY 25, 1906.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. SAMUEL W. SMITH, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 17452.] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 17452) to provide for payment of damages on account of changes in grade due to the elimination of grade crossings on the line of the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass when amended as follows: Page 5, line 10, insert before the word "the" the following: "such compensation as shall be determined upon by the supreme court of the District of Columbia as equitable and commensurate with the services rendered, not exceeding.' This measure was drafted by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, whose letter recommending the passage of the same and explaining the desirability of the proposed legislation is as follows: EXECUTIVE OFFICE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, DEAR SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to submit the following on H. R. 5973, Fifty-ninth Congress, first session, "To provide for the payment of damages to owners of property on account of changes of grade under acts of Congress approved February twelfth, nineteen hundred and one, which provide for the eliminating of certain grade crossings of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company," which you referred to them for examination and report. The bill directs that the District of Columbia shall pay damages to adjacent property resulting from changes in the grade of streets, avenues, or alleys in connection with the elimination of grade crossings, the said damages to be appraised in the same manner as is provided in the act of Congress approved April 22, 1904, allowing damages for changes of grade on account of the construction of the union railroad station in the District of Columbia. It is further provided that the United States shall refund to the District one-half of such amounts as may be allowed as damages under the provisions of the bill, and also one-half of the necessary expenses due to ascertain such damages. The interests affected by the proposed legislation are situated in the southeastern and southwestern sections of the city, along the line of the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad, formerly known as the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. In the sections named no provision has been directly made for compensating property owners who have suffered from changes of grade in connection with the elimination of grade crossings, although such compensation is allowed by law in the neighborhood of the new Union Station. It is the purpose of the bill now under consideration to remove this discrimination. In the very inception of the terminal improvements, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which includes the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company, as the greater includes the less, apprehended that it might be held liable for damages resulting from changes in grade, judicial authorities not being unanimous in their treatment of the question. In a letter written to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia on the 26th of December, 1899, and now in the possession of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, Mr. Samuel Rea, the fourth vicepresident of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in discussing the bill for the elimination of grade crossings then pending in Congress, specified the expenses which, under the bill, would be borne by the railroad, while the charge against the District would be "the expense of the changes in the grades of the streets approaching said overhead and undergrade crossings and the damages thereby resulting to abutting property owners.' This phase of the question was discussed by the Commissioners in their report to the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, dated February 6, 1900, wherein, after inviting attention to the fact that the United States and the District of Columbia are to pay, in equal proportion, "all damages resulting from change of grade," they comment as follows: "The provision that all damages to property shall be paid by the District of Columbia and the United States is objected to by the board of trade, who are of the opinion that they should be borne by the railroad company. On this point the Commissioners would state that, so far as they have been able to ascertain, damages of this character have been paid generally by the municipalities in similar cases elsewhere, and they do not think that harsher terms should be imposed on the company here than have been imposed in other cities." When the first law relating to the elimination of grade crossings on the line of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad was finally approved on February 12, 1901, the fact that grade damages would undoubtedly be asked was fully recognized, and provision for compensation was made in the following paragraph, known as section 9: "That the entire cost and expense of the revision, changes, relocations, and improvements of and in said railroad, as authorized and required by the preceding sections of this act, and all structures connected therewith or incidental thereto, shall be borne, paid, and defrayed in manner following, to wit: The said Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company shall bear, pay, and defray all cost and expense of the relocations, elevation, and depression of its tracks within the limits of its right of way as are authorized and required by this act, including the construction of so much of the bridges conveying streets over its tracks, right of way, and other property as shall be within the limits thereof, and the reconstruction within such limits of the streets which shall be carried beneath the same, the cost and expense of removing its tracks from Sixth street north of Virginia avenue, and from K street and Canal street, and the restoration of such parts of said streets for the uses of the public, and the cost and expense of constructing and maintaining the arch or arches for passageways underneath its said tracks located on the Mall, as well as the original cost of paving the roadways and sidewalks to be located within said passageways. "All other costs, expenses, and damages resulting from, incidental to, or connected with the revisions, changes, and improvements in alignment and grades of said railroad, or the relocations thereof by this act required and authorized, and from changes in the grades of the streets or the railroad, and the lawful operation of said railroad upon the location and structures contemplated and required by this act, and whether to property owners affected thereby or otherwise, as well as the cost and expense of all street approaches to said company's tracks and right of way, whether overhead by means of bridges or under grade, shall be borne, paid, and defrayed in manner following, to wit: Fifty per centum thereof by the United States and the remaining fifty per centum thereof by the District of Columbia, which last-mentioned fifty per centum shall be levied and assessed upon the taxable property and privileges in said District other than the property of the United States and of the District of Columbia. "All work within the limits of the said railroad company's right of way, including the bridges within said limits, shall be done by said railroad company to the satisfaction and approval of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, who are |